Detroit Speed Inc's Speed 1 Kit - Faux To Pro

How to Make a Camaro that Looks Like a Handler, Actually Walk the Walk

We hate to use the term “poseur” since it has such a negative connotation, but let’s face it; a lot of Camaros out there are given the Pro Touring treatment in looks only. After all, it’s a lot cheaper to just toss on some wide rollers and slam the stance, than to actually make a car handle better. And to be fair, if that’s all you want, then building a Faux Touring Camaro falls into the “no harm, no foul” category.

3/23

But it really isn’t that hard to drop the pretense and get your Camaro handling as good as it looks. In fact, it doesn’t even need to cost a small fortune. The key is to choose quality parts that address the handling shortcomings of early Camaros. And if these parts are simple bolt-on deals, then even more money is saved on the installation side of the ledger. Besides, looking good is nice, but, trust us, having a capable handler is the icing that makes the cake that much more tasty.

Our test Camaro for this exercise belongs to Racepak’s Roger Conley. He’s had the ’67 for a long time, and while it has the typical Pro Touring look, replete with 335/35-17 rear, and 275/35-17 front tires, his deal used to be drag racing, so the suspension was pretty much stock.

These days he would like to hit the local autocross, so we ordered up Detroit Speed Inc’s Speed Kit 1, which is their entry-level, bolt-on suspension kit. After all, why just talk the talk when you can do a little walkin’ as well?

Track Tested

21/23

Shiny new parts are cool, but we wanted to know how much better the car would handle. The Faux Touring ’67 was ran through our slalom course and, for reference, we decided to stack the numbers up against a bone-stock ’11 SS Camaro.